University College Dublin

Founded in 1854
3 Campuses
25,000 Students
3,000 Staff
Joined U21 in 2006

University College Dublin (UCD) is one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities where undergraduate education, postgraduate masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic continuum of activity. The university was established in 1854 by John Henry Newman whose classic work The Idea of a University is one of the most enduring texts on the value of higher education and a source of inspiration for UCD’s current educational philosophy.

UCD has been a major contributor to the making of modern Ireland. Many UCD students and staff participated in the struggle for Irish independence and the university has produced three Irish Presidents, almost half of the country’s Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) in addition to generations of Irish business, professional, cultural and sporting leaders including James Joyce, Flann O’Brien, Tony O’Reilly and Peter Sutherland.

Today UCD is Ireland’s largest university with almost 25,000 students, 5,000 of whom are international students. It is the most popular destination for Irish school-leavers and actively promotes university life as a journey of academic and personal discovery through its highly innovative and flexible UCD Horizons undergraduate curriculum.

UCD is Ireland’s leader in postgraduate education with approximately 7,000 postgraduate students and almost 2,000 PhD students. Over 50% of UCD undergraduates progress to postgraduate studies.

UCD is the national leader in research funding, attracting quality investment that has helped the university to establish a reputation as a world-class destination for leading researchers. The university has established four major interdisciplinary research themes that match Ireland’s needs and current global challenges. The priority areas are:

Earth Sciences, Energy and the Environment;

Health and Healthcare Delivery;

Information, Computation and Communication;

Global Ireland

The university is home to a number of primary Research Institutes which have been established to provide world-class facilities for a critical mass of academics and PhD students. These include: UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research; UCD Geary Institute; UCD Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory; UCD Institute for Food and Health; UCD Humanities Institute; and UCD Urban Institute.

UCD has one of Ireland’s most successful technology transfer and incubator units, NovaUCD, which supports both companies spinning out from the university’s research programmes and external start-ups wishing to avail of the university’s pool of expertise and technologies.

The international standing of UCD has increased rapidly in recent years and the university is currently ranked within the top 1% of institutions world-wide by the Times Higher Education rankings.

The university has recently partnered with Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) to establish the first international university in the Chinese capital. UCD also runs overseas programmes in partnership with leading international universities and private higher education providers in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, and Sri Lanka.

The main campus is located on a beautiful leafy 133-hectare parkland setting close to Dublin’s city centre, which provides a mix of academic facilities, research institutes, libraries and archival collections, enterprise space, student villages, and sports and recreational facilities.

Through its membership of U21, UCD provides its students and staff with an exciting and innovative range of opportunities for collaboration at every level with some of the world’s leading universities.